thx 4 da tips

My nephew has an email account. He is 11. This shouldn't frighten me, but it does - just a little. In part, it frightens me because it means I am old; old enough to have a nephew with a cyberspace presence, anyway. Scary indeed.

So yesterday, I sent him a long email message about his noble attempts and efforts to wear contact lenses. My message was written in proper letter format, as I learned to write long ago: salutation, introduction, body, concluding remarks, and a friendly sign-off. It was a thorough and thoughtful message, filled with encouraging sentiments on his ability to overcome any obstacle and succeed in getting those little pieces of plastic to comfortably stick to his eyes.

His reply came soon thereafter: "thx 4 da tips"

That's all. Nothing more.

This, my friends, is the future of written communication. Now I am really scared.